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According to family members, Felix DeJesus was last seen around 6 p.m. Feb. 2 near a Union Avenue bodega.
He’d been drinking quite a bit -- as he would often do, they said -- and apparently had been bothering a woman there, they said.
Police responded and took DeJesus away in handcuffs, the bodega owner reportedly told them.
A detective later told a family member that the officers dropped DeJesus off near the corner of Preakness Avenue and Front Street without charging him, loved ones claimed.
DeJesus was known to police, mostly for alcohol-related incidents, they said.
Why police didn’t take him to a hospital or shelter – or at least home – was puzzling, loved ones said. After all, it was cold that night, with temperatures dropping to nearly 20 degrees, and he was drunk, they said.
Family members said they were also told that an internal affairs investigation by the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office and city police into the encounter was underway.
Authorities, in turn, said they can’t comment on such matters. As a matter of policy, neither members of the prosecutor’s office nor city police will confirm or deny the existence of internal reviews -- at least until they are completed.
The “existence, target, nature and progress of Internal Affairs investigations are confidential,” explained Peter Foy, the senior assistant Passaic County prosecutor in charge of the office’s Public Integrity Unit.
What authorities will say is that DeJesus – better known as “Joel” -- was reportedly last seen in nearby Westside Park between 9-10 p.m. Feb. 2.
Family members reported him missing the next day.
As of Wednesday, Feb. 23, they still had no concrete answers.
DeJesus is 41, Hispanic, about 5-feet-9 and 200 pounds, authorities said. He was last seen wearing a white shirt and black sweat pants with black boots.
He has a Puerto Rican flag tattoo on his left rib and his mother’s name (“Wanda”) on his right arm. Across his back is a portrait of his grandmother that says: “Reyes Martinez.”
Anyone who sees him or knows where to find DeJesus is asked to contact the Passaic County prosecutor’s tips line at 1-877-370-PCPO or tips@passaiccountynj.org. Or call Haledon Police Capt. George Guzman, Jr. at (973) 790-4444.
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